Moving On
by Kurama no Miko2003
Summary: Even if they couldn't have given him the send-off they'd wanted to, they'll always make time to remember him.  Written for the YGO Drabble LJ community.  One shot, Blindshippy.


**Disclaimer**: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, nor do I make any profit from this piece of fanfiction.

* * *

><p><strong>Challenge Name and Number:<strong> #052, Blind Faith  
><strong>Drabble Title: <strong>Moving On  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 584  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> post-canon, Puzzle/Blindshippy  
><strong>Pairings: <strong>Puzzle/Blindshipping-ish. Nothing explicitly romantic, though.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Even if they couldn't have given him the send-off they'd wanted to, they'll always make time to remember him.  
><strong>Author's Notes<strong>**:** According to wikipedia, the hieroglyph for Horus, the god associated with pharaohs, is a peregrine falcon. You'll see why it's important at the end.

* * *

><p>Yuugi fought the urge to cringe as Anzu gave him The Look again for the fifth time that day. Sure, they had sent off his Other Self a few days earlier, and yes, he would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't upset the other had left to begin with. But he wasn't about to break down in tears again. Not when the last thing he had felt through their mind link was contentment, gratitude, and eternal affection.<p>

For a moment, Jounouchi reached for his jacket pocket, as though he wanted to suggest a duel, except Anzu noticed out of the corner of her eye, and gave him The Look instead. Yuugi almost felt sorry for him as Jounouchi withered under her gaze and proceeded to slouch lower in his seat on the couch.

"Yuugi, are you alright?"

Yuugi sighed; just how many more times will he have to answer that question? "I'm fine, Anzu."

"I heard there was a new movie playing in the theater near Kaibaland that's pretty good," Honda started. He was about to continue, except Anzu turned her Look on him instead. That particular Kaibaland had been the one where Kaiba opened Death T and forced them to win their way up the tower against near-impossible odds.

They all fell into an uncomfortable silence, when Yuugi decided he'd had enough. "Anzu, I'm fine. I'm not about to fall apart, I'll be fine. I have to be." Anzu opened her mouth to say something in protest, but he continued.

"The last thing he sent me through our mind link wasn't in the form of words, just feelings. He was happy to be going back to his friends and family. He was grateful to us for helping him along the way," Yuugi decided to leave out the part involving Atem's eternal affection; he had a sneaking suspicion that that part had truly been for him and him alone. "And if that's how he felt at the end, then there's nothing I can do other than believe he is happy where he is now," he resignedly finished. Silence settled once more in the room, leaving Yuugi's declaration of faith hanging in the air.

"I suppose, in the end," Jounouchi began, "we didn't really get to send him off the way we wanted to."

"No, we really didn't. I wish we had more time with him," Honda chimed in. Melancholy sunk in, as "what ifs" and "could haves" encircled their thoughts. Between the tournaments and saving the world, there had been very few opportunities to get to know the reclusive spirit better.

Suddenly, Anzu brightened up, "Hey, Obon is coming soon. He's not an ancestor, but maybe we could do something for him anyway?"

Yuugi perked up at the idea. "I'm sure the Other Me would like that."

"He has a name, you know," Jounouchi playfully ribbed. "We helped him find it after all!"

Yuugi laughed, full and warm. "Force of habit?" he answered sheepily.

Outside, unseen by the four teenagers, a peregrine falcon perched on a tree, its eyes fully focused on the scene unfolding in the living room of the Turtle Game Shop's upper story. And as the group began discussing offerings to make to their recently departed friend, it took off into the skies above, until it blended into the clouds, and vanished.

_Thank you, aibou, for believing. In both myself and you._

* * *

><p>Review?<em><br>_


End file.
